Feedback is Essential in the Teaching and Learning Process

Teachers want students to take and act upon their feedback. And students, generally, want feedback that is helpful and actionable for future assignments or for revising and resubmitting past assignments. So what kind of feedback will students heed and use? Articles and videos written and recorded by educators are in abundance and often provide a rationale for and demonstration of various feedback methods. However I appreciate learning what type of feedback students desire and benefit from, and I was surprised to find one student’s perspective in a most unlikely place. That place was inside the front cover of a used book I purchased from a local thrift store.

While looking at the used books on the nonfiction shelves in the back corner of a thrift store, I found one about writing by an author I enjoy reading so I bought it without even looking inside. A few days later, I opened up the book and noticed the previous owner had written his name and several paragraphs on a blank page inside the cover.

“Purchased this book at the suggestion of [my] writing instructor . . . [who] was one of the finest instructors I’ve ever known. Each week we would turn in a cassette tape along with our writing project for the week. As he read our work he would comment orally – it was very effective. Best writing class I ever took.”

Because he had signed his name, I did some research to see if I could find out more about the man who wrote that inscription. As it turns out, he was a long-time, former high school science teacher who had previously served as an active Marine pilot in World War II and reserve pilot in the Korean War. He later co-authored a book about his harrowing experiences as a fighter pilot. But he did not write about himself on the inside of the book that he knew others would read. Instead, he praised an instructor who gave specific, personalized feedback.